The majority of the differences between Thomas Mulcair and Brian Topp are either fictions or exaggerations crafted by their respective camps. Topp lays claim to the “real” progressive legacy of Jack Layton and implies Mulcair would violate that legacy, but in so doing he pretends Layton didn’t himself move the party to the centre. Imagining […]

I hope Stéphane Dion is happy with himself. His attempt to form a coalition government with Jack Layton’s New Democrats in 2008 ended up mortally wounding the very concept — not just federally, and not just formal coalitions, either. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty addressed the issue on Sunday, reacting to some rote coalition/hidden-agenda scaremongering from […]

Trust no one Today’s punditry includes fake photos, fake federalists and even (possibly) a fake candidate. By far the most interesting item of the day has Sun Media CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau telling the tale of a photograph that was forwarded to his news organization by Patrick Muttart, Stephen Harper’s former deputy chief of staff and, until very recently, […]

Alias Pundit With a Conservative majority looking more and more likely, the commentariat tries desperately to keep calm and carry on. Margaret Atwood scrawls a list of nouns and adjectives on a dinner napkin, in two columns: On the right (interestingly enough) are negative leadership characteristics (“dictator,” “mean,” “always right, like God” — gee, whoever could she […]

This changes everything! On the NDP surge and what it means for — what else? — the inevitable post-election coalition. The Toronto Star‘s Thomas Walkom asks: “Are Jack Layton’s New Democrats on their way to replacing the Liberals as the default anti-Stephen Harper party?” Oh, wait, sorry — that column’s from 2008, during the last unstoppable NDP surge. […]

Critical condition … and then, suddenly, we found ourselves having a debate about health care! The Financial Post‘s Terence Corcoran joins Michael Bliss‘s campaign for another royal commission on Canadian health care, only a good one this time, “headed by a courageous, credible figure with capacity for fresh ideas and new approaches” — not one in which someone like, say, Roy Romanow, “hold[s] […]

It’s true, but you shouldn’t say it It’s official: Michael Ignatieff is damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t, damned if he just stares into space, silently, with a neutral expression on his face. The National Post‘s Kelly McParland explains why it was “flat-out nuts” for Mr. Ignatieff to discuss with Peter Mansbridge the rules under which governments […]